During the 1970s the canneries saw an influx of new laborers—new Filipino immigrants, young Filipino Americans and non-Filipino men and women. The new generation became dissatisfied with work conditions and the lack of support by Local 37’s leadership, which was often corrupt. Inspired by new U.S. social movements, Third World liberation struggles, Carlos Bulosan and the union’s history of leftwing leadership, the activists pursued civil rights lawsuits against the canneries through a new organization outside the union, the Alaska Cannery Workers Association.

Activists would gather evidence by travelling to Alaskan canneries and documenting the unequal working conditions that canneries fostered between European American, Filipino American, and indigenous Alaskan workers. Food, housing conditions, and work tasks were distributed to favor European American workers and to discriminate against workers of color. As a result, the Alaska Cannery Workers’ Association (ACWA, a group cannery activists Silme Domingo and Gene Viernes founded) filed a class action lawsuit against several Alaskan fish companies, including one of the largest, the New England Fish Co. (NEFCO). The case eventually made it all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court in the form of Ward’s Cove Packing Co. v. Atonio (1989), resulting in an amendment to the Civil Rights Act in 1991.

Additionally, this generation of reformers sought to reform Local 37 from within, organizing the union's rank and file and seeking office. Internationally minded, the new reformers also organized through the ILWU against the regime of Philippine dictator Ferdinand Marcos. The reform struggle came to a head in 1981 when the union president, funded by the Marcos regime, orchestrated the assassination of union reform officers Silme Domingo and Gene Viernes. In response, fellow reformers rushed to fill the leadership gap, electing a new slate of leaders who still lead the union to this day. Forming a Committee for Justice for Domingo and Viernes, they pushed for an investigation of the murders and eventually proved Marcos’ role in the assassination. A U.S. court found the dictator guilty, the first time a foreign head of state was found criminally liable in a U.S. court of law.

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Below is a link to a series of photographs of audience and speakers at a May Day celebration in Seattle, May 1, 1978. The young generation of activists consciously connected to the history of the community to draw inspiration and help organize people to their campaigns.

Below is a link to a series of photographs documenting the ethnically segregated and discriminatory working and living conditions in Alaskan canneries. These photos were most likely taken by Silme Domingo and David Della, c. 1973. The photographs were later used as part of the court case filed by the Alaska Cannery Workers Association.